The Smartphone – A Meaningful Tool In Healthcare Delivery?

There was an interesting article on September 02, 2010 in the Pew Internet written by Amanda Lenhart and titled “Cell phones and American adults”. The article stated that “82% of American adults own a cell phone, Blackberry, iPhone or other device that is also a cell phone”.

Now what does that have to do with smartphone health access? The article seemed to point out a rapidly growing trend of cell phone acceptability and use by older adults. One may arguably extrapolate this use to indicate that adults may become more comfortable with mobile healthcare delivery. This could mean allowing digital access by healthcare professionals to the Personal Health Record (PHR) as part of online healthcare delivery.

Peter Hudson began his article on “Why Mobile Health Needs PHRs” in MobiHealthNews on June 25, 2010 with a notable statement. Peter indicated that PHRs present a great opportunity for consumers to control their healthcare data and “help deliver many meaningful solutions for managing their health”.

It is important to note that ease of access to the PHR may become critical in situations where the record-owner is on travel or needs emergency healthcare treatment.